Four Hooves

by destinedjagold

3 - 12

There is something here that is making Reykan worked up. It's probably a predator thing.

Speaking of predators, there aren't any around here, except for our cub companion. Unlike the part of the Everfree on the other cliff, I don't feel any hungry eyes watching me or anything.

“Can't you shut him up?” Dash suddenly asks, throwing a side-glare at us.

Reykan is still looking as ferocious as ever. Surprisingly, he's keeping up with our pace, although his steps look more cautious now. His sapphire blue eyes still lack that bright glimmer of his, and his fanged teeth are still showing as he growls lowly.

I feel Moon Gaze squirming on my back.

“Aside from our angry pet cub here,” Moon Gaze squeaks, “I don't hear anything else in the forest.” He pauses. “...I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not...”

Speaking of the forest, the trees here aren't as close to each other as in the previous forest, making this journey of ours a little easier as we walk through the spacious gaps in between them, but their thick branches and large leaves still block the stormy sky up above, making the forest look just as dark as the previous one.

At least its shielding us from the violent winds that is constantly rustling the leaves up above.

Seri is still leading our group, with Dash close by her.

I slightly shake my head.

I ... still don't understand why there's a castle here. I thought ponies and other creatures can't build stuff? Well, at least in this version of Equestria, they can't. I don't think they can even build a rope bridge. Even if they start to learn how to make basic structures, why a castle of all things? The unicorns back in Canterlot Mountain had the right idea of how to build a basic home, so I would assume that they'll start building homes, not a castle.

And why does it resemble the castle of the two sisters so much? If ponies or some other creature were able to build a castle in the middle of this freaking forest, then it looking similar must have been one heck of a crazy coincidence.

...Or maybe it's the very same castle from Twilight's version of Equestria, where she and her friends went to face off Nightmare Moon.

...Twilight.

I shake my head. No time to mope, as Seri is displaying.

Hm... Since the book is most-likely located there, is it possible that it brought a small portion of the Everfree Forest to this new timeline? That would make much more sense than a race of creatures building a castle and then just disappearing and leaving the castle to be ruined by time and the elements of nature.

The rope-bridge must have been part of that ‘small portion’. I wonder if the Tree of Harmony is close by. If so, maybe we can use the Elements to defeat whatever or whoever is responsible.

...What are the odds that we can use the Elements if it does exist in this timeline. Let's see here... There's me, Seri, Dash, Reykan and Moon Gaze. That's five.

I sigh... I should stop thinking about the Elements. Twilight would have mention them if they were an option. Even if they were, who will wield them? I certainly can't wield any of the six.

Another sigh escapes my lips.

“You really like thinking a lot, huh?” I hear Moon Gaze squeak. “And no, I'm not interested in hearing your thoughts.”

I roll my eyes and look ahead.

I blink. Huh... That's the exit up ahead. I must have been so lost in thought that I didn't notice we're about to leave the forest.

How are the others, I wonder?

Reykan is still tense, Dash is still annoyed at him, Seri is still leading our group, Moon Gaze is still on my back.

And I'm just walking along, lost in my own thoughts.

Well, at least we're exiting the forest now—

Click!

Startled, Dash stumbles back and bumps into me. “The buck?!” she exclaims.

I step aside as Moon Gaze jumps off of me and lands on Dash's back. “What? What is it?” he squeaks as he scurries to Dash's head.

I blink and study the surroundings, ignoring Dash's and Gaze's conversation about a piece of broken cobblestone the mare has stepped on, which is actually arranged like a pathway leading to the old castle ruins. The castle is surrounded by the thick trees of the Everfree Forest. Aside from this broken pathway towards the castle and the castle itself, the green and grassy clearing is also littered with dead and broken trees, and there are also black patches of dead grass. And to add some eerie effect to it, the eye of the storm is directly above the tallest spire of the ruined castle.

A loud crash of thunder erupts from the heavens as Seri extends the gem towards the castle, and the stone shines bright.

“We're going in there, aren't we?” Dash asks.

Seri nods her head.

The mare sighs. She looks back at us—Reykan to be specific—with a frown. “He's still not shutting up?”

“Looks like it,” Moon Gaze squeaks. “I really like how your mane looks.”

Her eye twitches. “Grrr...” Dash violently shakes her head, trying to shake the rat off of her. “Get off of me, you creep!”

Ignoring the duo, I move forward and step beside Seri. “So,” I breathe out. “We walk up there and search for the book?”

“Yep,” Seri replies with a nod. She opens her beak, as if to say something, but she looks like she's hesitating. She closes her beak.

I blink at her. “Seri?”

She shakes her head. “...What are we to do once we find the book?” she asks, looking at me with a sad frown.

“I...” I blink at that. “...I don't ... know.”

Her frown goes further down.

I quickly add: “B-but I'm sure we'll figure something out once we find the book!” I point at the gem she's holding. “I'm sure Twilight has placed some sort of spell in that gem that will do its magic once we find the book.”

Here's to hoping that's how it'll go.

The swan sighs. “I hope so.” She looks back, blinking a worried blink at the cub. “...But something else is probably there.”

I look at Reykan and frown. “...Yeah.” I look back to her, and then to the castle. “Maybe we should make sure that the coast is clear before we enter the castle.”

In before whoever is in there will tell us that the book is in another castle.

“Coast?” Dash asks, stepping on the other side of the swan. She looks around. “I don't see an ocean or anything...”

“And what's a castle?” Moon Gaze asks as he climbs up to my back.

I sigh.

With these as my companions, why did I even entertain the idea of the Elements anyway?

---

Seri and I poke our heads out the outer wall of the castle ruins, blinking as we study what's inside the castle. We didn't even need her gem's light for us to see what's inside, as the hall is awash with a multicolor of light.

Moon Gaze—on my head—squeaks a whistle. “That's a lot of gems.”

“Must be a very tough preydeytor if they can leave their presence here while they're somewhere else,” Reykan suddenly says, startling me.

I look down—Moon Gaze falling in the process and landing on the cub's head—and see Reykan standing between my front hooves, poking his head to check the hall as well. How I didn't notice his fur brushing against my hooves, I'll never know.

My ear twitches, hearing Dash snort. “You guys look like you're mating.”

Har har.

I move away from the curious cat as Rainbow Dash stops beside Seri and takes a look inside. “Whoa! No way!” she blurts out in surprise and excitement. She immediately dashes—no pun intended—through the castle's wide entrance and skids to a stop in the very center of the large castle's hall.

I facehoof as the others follow her. “Didn't I just say we check first if the—oh, nevermind.” Yes, I'm aware that I'm a hypocrite at times.

“This must be the cave I kept hearing about!” Dash says, her voice echoing in the ruined walls of the ruined castle.

With a sigh and a shake of my head, I follow after them, eyeing the many, many colorful gemstones lying around the hall. They are practically scattered almost everywhere, with small and big piles against the broken walls.

“Doesn't look like a cave to me,” Reykan says.

“It has a rock entrance and it's surrounded by rocky walls,” Dash counters with a glare. “If this isn't a cave, then I don't know what this is.”

Speaking of walls, I can clearly see large and nasty-looking scratch marks on them. A wall to the left also has a pretty big hole on it, much larger than the broken entrance where we came in.

“But Jay said that this is a cattle.”

“Castle,” Seri corrects him.

Hm... Burn marks on the ground outside, scratches and a large hole on the walls, and a large collection of gemstones here? I gulp. “I think this is a dragon's lair.” Or wait, don't dragons hoard gold? Do they hoard gems, too?

I hear a gemstone drop, it's thudding noise bounce around the walls. I turn see Dash looking at me in horror.

“...D-dragon?” she stutters.

I shrug. “Most-likely. I mean, they could be diamond dogs, but there are signs of fire outside.” I look at the walls. “And scratches, too, sooo...”

Silence, aside from the storm sounds outside.

Dash suddenly starts grabbing some gemstones. “Then let's grab what we could and get out of here.”

I blink and watch as she struggles to carry three gems with her two front hooves.

Moon Gaze, who's still on Reykan's head, sighs a squeaky sigh. “I'd like to help, but...”

“Just push a gem and let's go,” Dash replies. She blinks at the rest of us. “What are you all just standing there for?”

I look at Seri, who is staring at her shining gemstone. She looks ahead, blinking at the two curved stairway behind the platform where I'm assuming is where the throne is supposed to be. One of the stairway is broken, and the other is still looking mostly-intact, leading to a second floor indoor balcony of some kind.

Look, I'm not an interior architect, alright? It's not like I have access to the internet to look up what stuff are called.

...And I really need to stop narrating everything in my head.

Anyway, Seri then looks back at us, then at Dash. “We're not here for the gems.”

“Are you guys serious?!” Dash exclaims. “We could get whatever we want with just two gems! More if we can get more gems, obviously, but, uh, you get what I mean!”

Reykan shrugs. “Eh, I'm not really interested with gems.” He looks at me. “It's not like I can just use those to trade for a pony or deer for me to eat.”

I blink at him. “...Why are you looking at me?”

He shrugs.

Dash opens her mouth to reply, but she says nothing. She blinks. “...Okay, well, at least you have a point.” She shakes her head. “But what about the dirt pony and the birdie?”

“And the mouse!” Moon Gaze adds.

Dash rolls her eyes, then looks at me. “Are you really stupid to not grab these gems here and make a run for it?”

I shrug. “We didn't come here for the gems.”

Dash groans. “Idiots. Every single one of you!” She shakes her head and winces as she extends her injured wings. ”Whatever. Go find that stupid brook of yours or whatever. I don't care,” she says as she puts a gemstone on her side and carefully folds a wing to hold it.

And Rainbow Dash has left the party.

Seri, Reykan and I walk towards the curved stairway. Despite their large size, the gemstones are pretty light, so Seri has no problem wobbling through the sea of gemstones, with Reykan and I walking on the cleared path she has made.

Moon Gaze is fidgeting on the cub's head. “Um...” He shakes his head and jumps off of the cub's head, eliciting an annoyed grunt from the feline. “I-I'll help!” he squeaks as he scurries to Rainbow Dash.

Aaand Moon Gaze has left the party.

I ignore their conversation as I follow Seri and Reykan walking up the stairway.

We're getting closer. I can feel my heart beating faster and harder in excitement ... and nervousness, and worry, and and and—

“I wonder if I could use gems for hunting,” Reykan thinks out loud, his left ear twitching. “I can just zap bunnies and birds and oh! Maybe even ponies and deer, too!”

Onoes...

He shakes his head. “Eh, that'd be boring.”

I sigh in relief. I look up at Seri, expecting for her to say something, but I frown when no words escape her beak. I sigh yet again, not in relief this time.

We reach the second floor and—

A rush of warm and stinky air blows at us from the darkness up ahead, making Reykan growl. I already feel my guts dropping as Seri shines light to the darkness, revealing green scales, scales, more scales, and finally a large fang.

Another rush of warm breath blows at us from the large, sleeping green dragon's scaly nostrils.

“Um...” Seri nervously walks back. “Is that—?”

“Hey guys!” Moon Gaze squeaks oh so freaking loudly, skidding to a stop beside me. “Dash is asking you guys one last time if you want to change your minds—”

A powerful snort of hot breath, almost blowing Moon Gaze off the floor. A thud. A groaning growl.

...And then scaly eyelids open, revealing large, draconic eyes reflecting our nervous forms, and one growling form.

The large dragon head slowly leans closer, exhaling hot air towards us.

“Hey!” Dash's loud voice echoes loudly, making the dragon blink in confusion. “If they're not coming, let's go already!”

The large head slowly rises up, as if trying to see who said those goddamn loud words.

“Um...” Moon Gaze squeaks quietly. “...I think I just pissed myself.”

I gulp and take a nervous step back. “O-o-on the count of three,” I whisper, “we get the hell outta here.”

I see Seri and Moon Gaze nervously nod their heads.

I gulp once again, my throat too dry all of a sudden. “O-okay... One—”

“IS THAT A BUCKING DRAGON?!” Dash yells so freaking loud—

The dragon let out a ferocious roar, making the entire castle shake as if an earthquake is happening.

Wincing, and ears ringing, I look up and see the large dragon is staring at us.

“RUN!” I holler as I make a run for it.

Author's Note:

Written on December 10 & 14, 2017.

Edited on January 3 & 11, 2018.

Comments

[Seeking Dusk]

So... did we find Spike?

[Syroc]

Ehh, this chapter coulda benefited from a bit more editing magic. Two things that caught my eye...

There is something here that is making Reykan work up.

Should be "getting Reykan worked up."

“And no, I'm not interested to hear your thoughts.”

Should be "not interested in hearing your thoughts." Or possibly "not interested enough to hear your thoughts."

[Sigmacipher]

8663505
Doubtful unless that dragon suddenly has purple along with the green...and it's not going to help at all in their current situation.

[destinedjagold]

8663594
Fixed those you have pointed out. Thanks~
*is still lying on you*

[Twilight_the_spy]

My theory for the dragon:
The dragon is actually Spike. He somehow ended up going through the portal with his memory intact, and saw a book lying around. He of course decided to keep it just in case. However, since he was a baby dragon he couldn't really go that far, so he stayed in the castle. He found some gems, and with nobody around to stop his greed, he began hording them, thus turning him into giant-Spike.

[Rammy]

With these as my companions, why did I even entertain the idea of the Elements anyway?

That because you are thinking of the Elements of Harmony not the Elements of smacking the idiots over the side of the head...

[AppleTank]

I wonder if this is the same dragon from that Spike episode.

[Emperor]

I notice how the dragon's colouration isn't described at all. Alternate-timeline Spike?

Anyways, it really feels so far that all the characters lack any real agency. There's no real moment where they pause and stop and think about what they're doing and convince themselves into doing it. Instead, they've basically been "Oh, that's dangerous. I really don't want to do this. Oh well, let's go." It's been like that this entire arc, honestly. Jay has comic relief lines. He gets teleported away. He walks to the Everfree Forest. They follow the light of the gem to the castle. And so on.